Former Israeli Intel Official Claims Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell
Worked for Israel
A recent interview given by a former high-ranking official in Israeli
military intelligence has claimed that Jeffrey Epsteins sexual blackmail
enterprise was an Israel intelligence operation run for the purpose of
entrapping powerful individuals and politicians in the United States and
abroad.
by Whitney Webb
October 02nd, 2019
By Whitney Webb Whitney Webb
Since the apparent death by suicide of Jeffrey Epstein in a Manhattan
prison, much has come to light about his depraved activities and methods
used to sexually abuse underage girls and entrap the rich and powerful for
the purposes of blackmail. Epsteins ties to intelligence, described
in-depth in a recent MintPress investigative series, have continued to
receive minimal mainstream media coverage, which has essentially moved on
from the Epstein scandal despite the fact that his many co-conspirators
remain on the loose.
Epstein special coverage banner
For those who have examined Epsteins ties to intelligence, there are clear
links to both U.S. intelligence and Israeli intelligence, leaving it
somewhat open to debate as to which countrys intelligence apparatus was
closest to Epstein and most involved in his blackmail/sex-trafficking
activities. A recent interview given by a former high-ranking official in
Israeli military intelligence has claimed that Epsteins sexual blackmail
enterprise was an Israel intelligence operation run for the purpose of
entrapping powerful individuals and politicians in the United States and
abroad.
In an interview with Zev Shalev, former CBS News executive producer and
award-winning investigative journalist for Narativ, the former senior
executive for Israels Directorate of Military Intelligence, Ari
Ben-Menashe, claimed not only to have met Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged
madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, back in the 1980s, but that both Epstein and
Maxwell were already working with Israeli intelligence during that time
period.
They found a niche
In an interview last week with the independent outlet Narativ, Ben-Menashe,
who himself was involved in Iran-Contra arms deals, told his interviewer Zev
Shalev that he had been introduced to Jeffrey Epstein by Robert Maxwell in
the mid-1980s while Maxwells and Ben-Menashes involvement with Iran-Contra
was ongoing. Ben-Menashe did not specify the year he met Epstein.
Ben-Menashe told Shalev that he [Maxwell] wanted us to accept him [Epstein]
as part of our group
. Im not denying that we were at the time a group
that it was Nick Davies [Foreign Editor of the Maxwell-Owned Daily Mirror],
it was Maxwell, it was myself and our team from Israel, we were doing what
we were doing. Past reporting by Seymour Hersh and others revealed that
Maxwell, Davies and Ben-Menashe were involved in the transfer and sale of
military equipment and weapons from Israel to Iran on behalf of Israeli
intelligence during this time period.
He then added that Maxwell had stated during the introduction that your
Israeli bosses have already approved of Epstein. Shalev later noted that
Maxwell had an extensive network in Israel at the time, which included the
then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, according to Ben-Menashe.
Ben-Menashe went on to say that he had met him [Epstein] a few times in
Maxwells office, that was it. He also said he was not aware of Epstein
being involved in arms deals for anyone else he knew at the time, but that
Maxwell wanted to involve Epstein in the arms transfer in which he, Davies
and Ben-Menashe were engaged on Israels behalf.
Mega Group Ariel Sharon Robert Maxwell
Ariel Sharon (right) meets with Robert Maxwell in Jerusalem on Feb. 20,
1990. Photo | AP
However, as MintPress reported in Part IV of the investigative series
Inside the Jeffrey Epstein Scandal: Too Big to Fail, Epstein was involved
with several arms dealers during this period of time, some of whom were
directly involved in Iran-Contra arms deals between Israel and Iran. For
instance, after leaving Bear Stearns in 1981, Epstein began working in the
realms of shadow finance as a self-described financial bounty hunter,
where he would both hunt down and hide money for powerful people. One of
these powerful individuals was Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi arms dealer with
close ties to both Israeli and U.S. intelligence and one of the main brokers
of Iran-Contra arms deals between Israel and Iran. Epstein would later forge
a business relationship with a CIA front company involved in another aspect
of Iran-Contra, the airline Southern Air Transport, on behalf of Leslie
Wexners company, The Limited.
During this period, it is also known that Epstein became well acquainted
with the British arms dealer Sir Douglas Leese, who collaborated with
Khashoggi on at least one British-Saudi arms deal in the 1980s. Leese would
later introduce Epstein to Steven Hoffenberg, calling Epstein a genius and
describing his lack of morals during that introduction. Thus, there are
indications that Epstein was involved with Middle Eastern arms deals,
including some related to Iran-Contra, during this period. In addition,
Epstein would later claim (and then subsequently deny) having worked for the
CIA during this period.
After having been introduced to Epstein, Ben-Menashe claimed that neither he
nor Davies were impressed with Epstein and considered him not very
competent. He added that Ghislaine Maxwell had fallen for Epstein and
that he believed that the romantic relationship between his daughter and
Epstein led Robert Maxwell to work to bring the latter into the family
business i.e., Maxwells dealings with Israeli intelligence. This
information is very revealing, given that the narrative, until now at least,
has been that Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein did not meet and begin
their relationship until after Robert Maxwells death in 1991, after which
Ghislaine moved to New York.
Ben-Menashe says that well after the introduction, though again he does not
specify what year, Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein began a sexual
blackmail operation with the purpose of extorting U.S. political and public
figures on behalf of Israeli military intelligence. He stated:
In this case what really happened, my take on it, in the later thing, is
that these guys were seen as agents. They werent really competent to do
very much. And so they found a niche for themselves blackmailing American
and other political figures.
He then confirmed, when prompted, that they were blackmailing Americans on
behalf of Israeli intelligence.
In response to his statement, Zev Shalev replied, But, you know, for most
people its hard for them to think of Israel as being
blackmailing their
leaders in the United States, its a very
at which point, Ben-Menashe
interrupted and the following exchange took place:
Ari Ben-Menashe: Youre kidding? [laughs]
. It was quite their M.O.
Sleeping around is not a crime, it may be embarrassing, but its not a
crime, but sleeping with underage girls is a crime.
Shalev: It was a crime in 2000 as well, but they let him off that
Ben-Menashe: And that it is [why] always so he [Epstein] made sure these
girls were underage.
In addition, when Shalev asked Ben-Menashe about the relationship between
Jeffrey Epstein and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Ben-Menashe
stated After a while, you know, what Mr. Epstein was doing was collecting
intelligence on people in the United States. And so if you want to go to the
U.S. if youre a high-profile politician you want to know information about
people. Ben-Menashe subsequently stated that Barak was obtaining
compromising information (i.e., blackmail) that Epstein had acquired on
powerful people in the United States.
PROMIS, sex, and blackmail
If Robert Maxwell did recruit Epstein and bring him into the family
business and the world of Israeli intelligence, as Ben-Menashe has claimed,
it provides supporting evidence for information provided to MintPress by a
former U.S. intelligence official, who chose to remain anonymous in light of
the sensitivity of the claim.
This source, who has direct knowledge of the unauthorized use of PROMIS to
support covert U.S. and Israeli intelligence projects, told MintPress that
some of the proceeds from the illicit sales of PROMIS were made available
to Jeffrey Epstein for use in compromising targets of political blackmail.
As was noted in a Mintpress series on the Epstein scandal, much of Epsteins
funding also came from Ohio billionaire Leslie Wexner, who has documented
ties to both organized crime and U.S. and Israeli intelligence.
After the PROMIS software was stolen from its rightful owner and developer,
Inslaw Inc., through the collusion of both U.S. and Israeli officials, it
was marketed mainly by two men: Earl Brian, a close aide to Ronald Reagan,
later U.S. envoy to Iran and close friend of Israeli spymaster Rafi Eitan;
and Robert Maxwell. Brian sold the bugged software through his company,
Hadron Inc., while Maxwell sold it through an Israeli company he acquired
called Degem. Before and following Maxwells acquisition of Degem, the
company was a known front for Mossad operations and Mossad operatives in
Latin America often posed as Degem employees.
With Maxwell Epsteins alleged recruiter and father of Epsteins alleged
madam having been one of the main salespeople involved in selling PROMIS
software on behalf of intelligence, he would have been in a key position to
furnish Epsteins nascent sexual blackmail operation with the proceeds from
the sale of PROMIS.
This link between Epsteins sexual blackmail operation and the PROMIS
software scandal is notable given that the illicit use of PROMIS by U.S. and
Israeli intelligence has been for blackmail purposes on U.S. public figures
and politicians, as was described in a recent MintPress report.
Can an ex-spy be trusted?
When dealing in the world of deception and intrigue that defines
intelligence operations, it is often difficult to determine whether any
individual linked to an intelligence agency is telling the truth. Indeed, in
the United States, there are examples of elected intelligence officials
committing perjury and lying to Congress on several occasions with no
consequences, and of intelligence officials feeding politically motivated
and untrue information to agency assets in the media.
So, are Ari Ben-Menashes claims regarding Epstein and the Maxwells
trustworthy? In addition to the aforementioned, corroborating information
for his claims, a review of Ben-Menashes post-intelligence career suggests
this is the case.
Ari Ben Menashe
Ari Ben-Menashe arrives at Harare International Airport, in Zimbabwe, Feb.
22, 2002. Photo | AP
Prior to his arrest in November 1989, Ben-Menashe was a high-ranking officer
in a special unit of Israeli military intelligence. He would later claim
that his arrest for attempting to sell American-made weapons to Iran was
politically motivated, as he had threatened to expose what the U.S.
government had done with the stolen PROMIS software if the U.S. did not
cease providing Saddam Husseins Iraq with chemical weapons. Ben-Menashe was
later acquitted when a U.S. court determined that his involvement in the
attempted sale of military equipment to Iran was done on behalf of the
Israeli state.
After his arrest, Ben-Menashe was visited in prison by Robert Parry, the
former Newsweek contributor and Associated Press reporter who would later
found and run Consortium News until his recent passing last year. Parry
remembered that, during that interview, Ben-Menashe offered me startling
new information about the Iran-Contra scandal, which I thought that I knew
quite well.
Israels government immediately began to attack Ben-Menashes credibility
following his interview with Parry, and claimed that Ben-Menashe had never
worked for Israeli intelligence. When Parry soon found evidence that
Ben-Menashe had indeed served in Israeli military intelligence, Israels
government was then forced to admit that he had worked for military
intelligence, but only as a low-level translator. Yet, the documentation
Parry had uncovered described Ben-Menashe as having served in key
positions and performed complex and sensitive assignments.
A year later, Ben-Menashe would be interviewed by another journalist,
Seymour Hersh. It would be Ben-Menashe who first revealed to Hersh secrets
about Israels nuclear program and the fact that British media mogul Robert
Maxwell was an Israeli spy, revelations that Hersh would not only
independently corroborate but include in his book The Samson Option:
Israels Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy. Hersh was then sued by
Robert Maxwell and the Maxwell-owned Mirror Group for libel. The case was
later settled in Hershs favor, as the claims Hersh had made were true and
not libelous. As a result, the Mirror Group paid Hersh for damages, covered
his legal costs, and issued him a formal apology.
After Ben-Menashes interviews by Hersh and Parry, Israels government was
apparently concerned enough about what Ben-Menashe would tell congressional
investigators that it attempted to kidnap him and bring him back to Israel
to face state charges, much like Israeli intelligence had done to Israels
nuclear-weapons whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu. The plan was foiled largely
thanks to Parry.
Parry, who broke many key stories related to the Iran-Contra scandal in the
1980s and beyond, was tipped off by a U.S. intelligence source about a joint
U.S.-Israel plan to have Ben-Menashe first be denied entry to the United
States on his planned trip to give congressional testimony. Per the plan,
Ben-Menashe would be denied entry to the U.S. in Los Angeles and then be
deported to Israel, where he would have stood trial for exposing state
secrets. Parry called Ben-Menashe and convinced him to delay his flight
until he secured a guarantee for safe passage from the U.S. government.
Ben-Menashe subsequently gave a sworn statement to the House Judiciary
Committee that mostly focused on U.S.-Israel collusion regarding the theft
and creation of a backdoor into the PROMIS software. Ben-Menashe offered
to name names and provide corroborating evidence for several of his claims
if he was offered immunity by the committee, which, for whatever reason.
declined that request.
Prior to the conclusion of the Hersh libel trial, which would later uphold
Ben-Menashes claims regarding Robert Maxwells Mossad activities as true,
there was a concerted effort in the U.S. press to downplay Ben-Menashes
credibility. For instance, Newsweek in an article on Ben-Menashe entitled
One Man, Many Tales claimed that inconsistencies may undermine
Ben-Menashes testimony in the British courtroom proceedings, citing
inconsistencies from sources in Israels government and Israeli intelligence
as well as Ben-Menashes ex-wife and Israeli journalist Shmuel (or Samuel)
Segev, a former IDF colonel. It goes without saying that such sources had
much to gain from any effort to discredit Ben-Menashes claims.
According to Parry, this media campaign, which employed American journalists
with close ties to Israels government and intelligence agencies, was very
successful in marginalizing Ben-Menashe by 1993, at least in the eyes of
the Washington Establishment. After a years-long media campaign to
discredit Ben-Menashe, the Israelis seemed to view him as a declining
threat, best left alone. He was able to pick up the pieces of his life,
creating a second act as an international political consultant and
businessman arranging sales of grain. The effort to marginalize Ben-Menashe
has continued well into recent years, with mainstream news outlets still
referring to him as a self-described ex-Israeli spy despite the
well-documented fact that Ben-Menashe worked for Israeli intelligence as a
means of downplaying his claims regarding his time in Israels intelligence
service.
After the conclusion of the Hersh libel trial, Ben-Menashe became an
international political consultant who surrounded his far-flung business
activities in secrecy and got involved with some controversial international
figures, such as Zimbabwes leader Robert Mugabe, and
conducted his international consulting business
in a wide variety of
global hotspots, including conflict zones, according to Parry. In addition
to Mugabe, Ben-Menashe has also recently come under fire for his consulting
work on behalf of Sudans military junta and Venezuelan opposition
politician Henri Falcón.
Ben-Menashe has also maintained ties to several different intelligence
services and eventually became a controversial whistleblower whose
information led to the arrest of the former head of Canadas Security
Intelligence Review Committee, Arthur Porter.
As far as his character is concerned, Parry noted that Ben-Menashe could
often be his own worst enemy and that, even though Parry considered his
information regarding Iran-Contra and PROMIS reliable and noted that much of
it was later corroborated, he often compound[ed] his media problem by
treating journalists in a high-handed manner, either due to his suspicions
of them or his arrogance.
Bill Hamilton, the original developer of the PROMIS software and head of
Inslaw Inc., also found Ben-Menashes claims regarding the illicit use of
PROMIS by U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies to be credible, though he
expressed doubts about Ben-Menashes character.
Hamilton told MintPress the following about Ben-Menashe:
Ari Ben Menashe was the first source to tell us reliable information about
the role of Rafi Eitan and Israeli intelligence vis-a-vis PROMIS but, in the
end, of course, he was a clandestine services-type guy whose official duties
include the ability and willingness to lie, cheat, and steal.
A threat revived
While Ben-Menashe may have been viewed as a declining threat after the
early 1990s, his plans to meet with Robert Parry of Consortium News years
later in 2012 to discuss Iran-Contra and other covert dealings of the 1980s
appeared to change that. Right before he planned to travel from Canada to
the United States to meet with Parry and finally prove the truthfulness of
his past claims, a fire-bomb was thrown into his Montreal home, destroying
it.
Air Ben-Menashe Home
Ari Ben-Menashe surveys the damage to his home after it was mysteriously
firebombed. Photos | Robert Parry
Though Canadian media referred to the incendiary device as a molotov
cocktail, Consortium News reported that the arson squads initial
assessment is said to be that the flammable agent was beyond the sort of
accelerant used by common criminals, leading to speculation that the
accelerant was military-grade.
Had it not been for the bomb, the origins of which Canadian police failed to
determine, Ben-Menashe would have traveled to the U.S. alongside a senior
Israeli intelligence figure to be interviewed by Parry. The other
intelligence-linked individual, according to Parry, concluded that the
attack was meant as a message from Israeli authorities to stay silent about
the historical events that he was expected to discuss.
Though neither Ben-Menashe nor Parry directly blamed Israels government for
the destruction of Ben-Menashes home, Parry noted that the bombing did
succeed in intimidating Ben-Menashe, shutting down possible new disclosures
of Israeli misconduct from the other intelligence veteran, and destroying
records that would have helped Ben-Menashe prove whatever statements he
might make.
While Ben-Menashes post-intelligence associations with controversial
governments and individuals have given plenty of fodder to the still
thriving media campaign to discredit his claims about covert U.S.-Israel
operations in the 1980s, there remain troubling indications that the Israeli
government sees his information on decades-old events as a threat.
Now, with the major efforts by powerful Americans and Israelis to distance
themselves from Jeffrey Epstein and other figures associated with his
depraved sex trafficking operation, Ben-Menashe may soon again find his
reputation and perhaps more under fire.
Feature photo | Graphic by Claudio Cabrera
Whitney Webb is a MintPress News journalist based in Chile. She has
contributed to several independent media outlets including Global Research,
EcoWatch, the Ron Paul Institute and 21st Century Wire, among others. She
has made several radio and television appearances and is the 2019 winner of
the Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism.
